Latest Planetary science Stories

One of the key factors in the search for life on other worlds is a planet’s ability to sustain liquid water, and researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have for the first time revealed that this possibility exists on the type of planets known as super-Earths.

The scientific community was a-buzz in late 2013, when NASA researchers reported that the Hubble Space Telescope had detected 120-mile high vapor plumes emanating from the south pole of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

After a journey that lasted more than seven years, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has entered its approach phase around Ceres as it prepares to become the first spacecraft ever to visit the Texas-sized dwarf planet.

Ever wonder what the formation of an asteroid crater on Earth would look like if viewed in slow-motion? Researchers from the University of Minnesota have found a unique way to model such an event by recording the impact of raindrops on sandy surfaces.

Spectacular to look at, but poorly understood, auroras have been somewhat of a conundrum for scientists. But new data from NASA and ESA satellites has finally shed, ehem, light on one particular type of very high-latitude aurora.

Image Caption: Artistic concept of a planetary system. Credit: Wikipedia/NASA/JPL-Caltech
The term Astronomy encompasses a broad range of topics, including the study of stars, galaxies, and planets. In order to focus on the different areas of study, many subfields of astronomy emerge. One such area is the study of planets known, appropriately, as Planetary Astronomy.
Observational Planetary Astronomy
Even within the field of Planetary Astronomy, there are several divisions to...

Solar cycles: what are they and why should we care about them?
Solar cycles are made up of what are known as solar minimums (min) and solar maximums (max). We refer to a solar min at the time when the sun is not active with many sunspots, while a solar max is just the opposite when we see a large increase in sunspot activity.
So how long do solar cycles last? Typically they run on what is known as an 11 year cycle from the max to the min and then start over again anew.
As of 2012 we...

Planetary and Space Science is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1959 and published by Elsevier 15 times per year. As of May 2012, the editor-in-chief is Rita Schulz (The Netherlands).
The journal publishes original research articles and short communications. The main focus is on solar system processes which encompass multiple areas of the natural sciences. Research that involves planetary and space sciences involves many disciplines. Celestial mechanics is part of these...

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors is a biweekly published peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. As of April 2012, co-editors are G. Aelfric (University of Bristol), K. Hirose (Tokyo Institute of Technology), M. Jellinek (University of British Columbia), and K. Zhang (University of Exeter).
This journal focuses on the physical and chemical processes of planetary interiors. Topics covered include planetary physics, geodesy and geophysics. Publishing formats...

Geophysical Journal International is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publish monthly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society and the German Geophysical Society. The editor-in-chief is Jeannot Trampert of TA Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The primary focus of this journal is fundamental research in Geophysics. Publishing formats are original research, research notes, letters, and book reviews. Coverage includes computational, theoretical, observational and applied...

A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.